Earth-Now

Teacher Overview

To get an amazing scientific and pictorial view of what’s happening to our planet, look no further than Earth Now from NASA, which is free on iOS and Android. This app is built around a stunning, interactive 3-D model of Earth that shows graphics of sea-level changes and other detailed information like carbon dioxide levels.

Earth-Now is a hub for recent climate data gathered from Earth satellites. The data sets are visual color scales that cover a 3-D model of Earth, and students can rotate the model and zoom in or out. A color-coded legend shows the relative weaknesses or strengths of the data sets, which include surface air temperature, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, gravity field, ozone, sea level, sea surface salinity, and water vapor.

The app is designed to be a hands-on way to discover information about our planet. NASA updates the data regularly, adding up-to-the-minute content like satellite images of large storms and other major events. It’s fascinating to dial through the content, and the visuals are striking.

Subject

Safeguarding

Screenshots

Developer Description

NASA's Earth Now is an application that visualizes recent global climate data from Earth Science satellites, including surface air temperature, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, and water vapor as well as gravity and sea level variations. Data sets are visually described using "false color" maps. Color-coded legends are provided to indicate relative strength or weakness of an environmental condition. The resulting 3D model of the Earth may be rotated by a single finger stroke, and may also be zoomed in or out by pinching 2 fingers. It was developed by the Earth Science Communications and Visualization Technology Applications and Development Teams at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with support from NASA Headquarters.